To keep you warm To keep you calm
by bloodyelectro
Summary: A collection of semi-related one-shots staring Brenna and Greer. (posted these first two on tumblr before)
1. Chapter 1

**This doesn´t have a title**

The tennis ball bounced off the ground three times before Brenna got ready to serve, "Okay, match point," she called across the court to her opponent.

Greer smiled at her from the other site, "remember it´s not over till it´s over, this time you´re going down."

"Keep dreaming."

Bouncing the ball once more Brenna got into position and then threw the small yellow ball in the air. She hit it perfectly and it sped across the net and into the far corner where Greer hit it just as good and all Brenna could do was watch the blonde´s return whoosh back into her field completely out of her reach.

"What was that?"

"That was me being great," Greer replied with a smirk.

"Fine, I´ll give you this one, but I still have one match point left."

"Bring it."

Brenna finished the game with nearly the exact same shot that won her their first encounter, only this time Greer didn´t try to get it and her ankle didn´t have to take the fall.

"And she takes it away… again!" Brenna called lifting her arms into the air, "Just admit that I´m better than you," she teased walking towards the net.

"You´re better than me," the blonde echoed good-naturedly as they met in the middle.

"You didn´t let me win on purpose, did you?"

"I would never," Greer smiled from the other side of the net, "you´re just too good for me. How about you buy the loser some coffee?"

"Why would I buy the coffee? You lost, I won. Shouldn´t you get me something?" Brenna argued.

"Fine, I´ll buy then," Greer relented slowly walking backwards to grab her bag, "you´re a cheap date, you know that?"

"Hey, wait," Brenna called to her, "come back."

Indulging Greer went back, "what? Do you want to celebrate your victory some more?"

"Kind of," the brunette replied reaching for Greer´s shirt to pull her closer. Brenna could feel Greer smile into the kiss and had she not been busy she probably would´ve rolled her eyes; how could someone be so happy all the time?

"You didn´t let me win, right?" Brenna asked again once they had both grabbed their bags, "I´m simply better than you."

"Absolutely," Greer agreed after another kiss making Brenna smile, "now let´s get some coffee."

"You know, coffee always tastes so much better when you don´t have to pay for it yourself," Brenna beamed gleefully at her companion.

Greer paused for a moment, "You know, I really like it when you smile," she noted as she reached for Brenna´s hand, "I mean when you _imitate me_ of course," she corrected quickly.

"Just shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

**To rest my head and trust the plan**

"April, sweetie, are you okay?" Sara gave her oldest daughter a look of concern.

They were all seated at the kitchen island to eat dinner, but April was just absentmindedly pushing her food around, "yes, I´m just really tired, mom."

Brenna glanced at her sister worriedly as she took another bite.

"You´ve barely eaten anything," their mother pressed on, "do you want me to make you something else?"

"No, mom, it´s fine, I´m not really hungry."

"But it´s important that you-"

"Mom, please," April interrupted her, "I think I´m just going to lay down, if you don´t mind. Rest is important as well."

After some hesitation Sara relented, "okay, but I´ll put a plate for you in the fridge in case you get hungry later."

"Okay," April agreed as she got up.

"Call us if you need anything."

"I will, good night guys."

"Night," Brenna mumbled watching her sister walk upstairs, "is she alright?" she asked once April had disappeared into her room.

"George said that fatigue is a very common symptom," Sara recalled. She had most of the facts memorized and she knew that what April was experiencing was to be expected, but that didn´t make her feel any better.

"Poor thing," said Emma and Brenna gave her hand a short squeeze.

The rest of dinner was mostly spent in silence as the remaining Carver women were absorbed in thought.

"Thanks for dinner mom," Brenna said getting up to put her plate away, "I´m gonna go call Kieran."

The telling sigh coming from her mother went mostly ignored as Brenna walked up the steps. The call was already connecting as she reached the landing and noticed April´s door being ajar. She hung up the phone and pushed the door to her sister´s room open, "April?"

Her bed was empty, but since Brenna didn´t hear any sounds coming from the bathroom she continued and walked into the room, "April?"

The bathroom door was open and next to the toilet she found her sister nervously shaking and not really responding.

"MOM!"

"Okay, why don´t you and grandma take a cab home?"

It had been a couple of hours since they´d gotten to the hospital and after an initial checkup April had been admitted. Her doctor wanted to monitor her during the night, but had reassured them that her symptoms were nothing too serious, "her body´s going through a lot right now and unfortunately side effects are likely to appear," were his words.

"What about you?" Brenna replied to her mother´s question.

"I´m going to stay here tonight. I´ll call if anything changes."

Brenna knew not to argue with her mother, "Okay."

Pulling her daughter into a hug Sara soothed her, "April will be fine."

"Yeah," Brenna agreed before she let go.

A moment later Emma linked arms with her granddaughter and together they left the hospital to go home.

On the drive Brenna pulled her phone out of her purse, she had a missed call from Kieran and a text asking her if everything was alright. She texted him not to worry and that she would call him the next day, then she pulled up her conversation with Greer.

_Can you come over?_

A few minutes later she got a reply from both of them; Kieran wished her a good night and Greer´s text only said _Leaving now_.

"Good night, grandma," Brenna said once they were back home.

Walking over to her youngest granddaughter Emma gave her tight hug, "Sleep well sweetie and tell your friend hello from me," with that she went into her room, leaving Brenna alone in the kitchen.

A few minutes later Brenna´s phone vibrated in her hand, _At your front door_.

"Hey, thanks for coming over, I hadn´t realized how late it was," Brenna said as she closed the door behind Greer.

"Brenna, you know it´s okay," the blonde replied with a soft smile, "I told my parent´s I would spend the night," she carried on somewhat hesitant, "I hope that´s alright?"

The only thing Brenna could do was nod, that´s exactly what she needed; that and the hug that Greer provided a moment later.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Brenna clung to her and after a few seconds replied, "April´s in hospital, she wasn´t feeling well after dinner…"

"I´m sorry."

"Her doctor said it´s just the usual side effects of chemo, but…" Brenna trailed off and took a deep, shuddering breath.

The other girl pulled her a little closer, "It´s okay to worry."

"I just, I feel like I should be stronger; for April, for my mom, for grandma, but I´m so scared. I don´t know…"

"Whatever you feel, it´s okay," Greer reassured her, "there are no wrong feelings in this situation."

For a long moment they were both quiet before Greer talked again, "April will feel a bit better tomorrow... and even better the day after that and next week you´re probably back to annoying each other."

"Yeah," Brenna agreed with a small laugh.

Greer wiped away the tear that slowly rolled down Brenna´s cheek and gave her an encouraging smile before she placed a chaste kiss on Brenna´s lips.

Holding Brenna´s hand Greer followed her into the kitchen, "Do you mind if I take a quick shower? I still smell like hospital," asked Brenna wrinkling her nose a bit.

"No, it´s fine. I´ll just wait here for you."

"Okay, I won´t be long."

While Brenna took a quick shower Greer occupied herself with putting away the dishes and leftovers from dinner, which had been forgotten due to the family´s quick departure earlier.

"You didn´t have to do that," Brenna said when she came back down a few minutes later, hair still somewhat damp from her shower.

"It´s nothing," replied Greer drying her hands after she´d rinsed of the last pan, "feeling better?"

"A little."

"Would you like some tea?"

"Can we just go lie down?" Brenna asked holding out her hand.

"Sure."

Turning off all the lights the two girls quietly went upstairs to Brenna´s room, where Greer took off her sweater and placed it over the iron frame at the foot of the bed.

"You´re really passionate about the sea, aren´t you," Brenna noted glancing at the `Save The Sea` t-shirt the other girl was wearing.

"I can get you one as well, if you want," the blonde suggested with a sassy smile as she grabbed her sleep shorts out of the bag she brought with her.

"Matching clothes? I don´t think so."

Turning around while Greer changed Brenna closed the curtains painfully slow to keep busy.

"Okay, I´m decent, you can stop moving in slow motion," Greer teased.

"Do you want to watch a movie? I don´t think I can sleep just yet," said Brenna turning on the lamp next to her bed.

"What do you have?"

Brenna grabbed her laptop from the bag on the floor and joined Greer on the bed, "you decide," she said pulling up her Watchlist.

"Okay, Dirty Dancing, really?"

Brenna laughed leaning back into the pillows, "April put that on the list."

"Maybe you could watch it with her," suggested Greer as she continued to scroll through the movies.

"Yeah, maybe," Brenna quietly agreed. She´d already participated in the meditation circle so why not put herself through that torture to spend some time with her sister.

"It´s not that bad of a movie," Greer said as if reading Brenna´s mind.

"Of course you´ve seen it."

"It´s one of my 80ties favorites," the blonde informed her.

"Wow, no wonder you and Beth get along so well, you like the same boring, girly stuff."

Giving her a side glance Greer just smiled at the other girl.

"Okay, and what´s it with all these documentaries?"

Brenna just shrugged her shoulders, no need to tell her that was mostly because of Kieran. She herself wasn´t that much of a documentary fan.

"There isn´t even _one_ about animals or the environment," Greer criticized good-humoredly, "you´re a member of eco club now, you really should start caring about our ecosystem."

"What would you recommend?"

After a quick search Greer proclaimed, "I added one of my favorites to your list."

"Let me guess: it´s about fish?" Brenna asked chuckling.

Greer turned around to face her, "so what if it is?"

The other girl just smirked in amusement.

"Are you going to watch it?"

"Is this my friend asking or the vice president of eco club demanding?"

"Both."

"We could always watch it together some day," suggested Brenna not meeting the other girl´s eyes for a moment.

"Okay, it´s a date," Greer grinned at her then turned her attention back to the laptop, "but today we need something a bit lighter."

"I draw the line at Finding Nemo, just so you know."

"But it´s a modern classic," argued the blonde, but continued her search anyway.

They ended up watching the Lego Movie, because Greer decided that ten veto´s was enough and wouldn´t accept another objection.

"Thanks for being here," Brenna said five minutes into the movie.

Reaching over Greer took the other girls hand and gave it a soft squeeze in response before she let go again.

It took Brenna ten minutes to get over herself and get comfortable. Greer casually lifted her arm, a silent invitation, and a moment later Brenna was nestled to her side; her head comfortably resting on Greer´s shoulder, her arm covering the `Sea` part of the blonde´s shirt.

The continuous movement of Greer´s hand trailing up and down her back eventually put Brenna to sleep and the other girl followed not too long after.

Two hours later it was Greer who woke up when she turned around and bumped against the laptop. She closed the lit and carefully put it on the floor next to the bed before she got comfortable again. Brenna made a soft sleepy sound because of the movement, but then snuggled up to Greer once more.

That´s how Sara found them the next morning when she carefully opened the door to check on her daughter. For a moment she was surprised, but seeing how content Brenna looked she was glad that she hadn´t been alone during the night. (And she was secretly happy that it was the blonde who was in bed with her daughter and not someone else.)

Deciding to let them sleep a bit longer she went back down to prepare breakfast before she woke her family (and guest).

The food was almost done when Sara heard a door open and close upstairs. A few moments later Greer came down the stairs, trying to hide a yawn, "Good morning Misses Carver," she greeted with one of her trademark smiles.

"Good morning, Greer. When did you get here?"

"Brenna texted me last night," the young girl answered taking a seat at the kitchen island, "I hope you don´t mind."

"No, that´s fine," Sara said with a soft smile (even though she would´ve liked to be informed about their overnight guest), "are you joining us for breakfast?"

Greer hesitated a moment, she´d only met Brenna´s mother one time over dinner and she didn´t want to intrude.

"You´re more than welcome to stay," Sara reassured her taking an omelet off the stove.

"Okay, sure, thank you, would you like some help?"

"No, but thank you for offering."

They both looked up when they heard Brenna leave her room. Greer got up to meet at her at the bottom of the stairs, but then paused, perfectly aware of Sara´s eyes on them. Not sharing Greer´s reservations Brenna wrapped her arms around her, "Morning."

"Good morning," the blonde replied contentedly before she let go.

Brenna rounded the kitchen island to hug her mom, "Morning, mom. How´s April?"

"Better, she slept through most of the night," Sara told her youngest daughter, kissing the top of her head, "They want her to stay one more night just to make sure everything´s fine, then she´ll come back home."

"Are we going to see her?"

"Yes, after breakfast."

"Okay,"

"Can you go tell your grandmother that breakfast is almost done?"

"Sure."

"I´ll call you later?" Brenna asked trying to ignore her mother and grandmother who were waiting for her to say her goodbyes.

"Okay, tell April to get better soon," said Greer turning around to hug the other girl once more.

Moving them out of sight of curious eyes Brenna leaned up to kiss the other girl, "Bye."

"Talk to you later."

Greer was already halfway out the door when Brenna pulled her back in for another kiss, "Okay, now leave."

The blonde gave her hand a squeeze and one last wide smile before she slipped out the door.

"What?" Brenna asked stopping short, when she saw her mom leaning against the doorframe and waiting for her.

"Nothing," Sara said as she pulled her daughter into a hug, "I´m just glad you have someone like her in your life."

"Mom…"

"I´m just saying."

"Okay, can we go see April now?"

On the way to the hospital Brenna texted Greer, _Thanks for last night._

The reply came quick,_ Anytime_, followed by one of those obnoxious smileys, that made Brenna roll her eyes.

Nonetheless she smiled to herself as she watched the city go by, her phone held tightly in her hand.


End file.
